Geithner calls on banks for Dodd-Frank objections

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner recently called on bankers to provide specific evidence related to complaints that the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act is overly burdensome and costly.

At a May 10 Federal Advisory Council hearing, the council’s members told Geithner that many of the Dodd-Frank rules were duplicative and overlapping. Some of the complaints included increased capital requirements, mortgage servicing restrictions and the handling of bank stress tests, Bloomberg reports.

In response, Geithner told the bankers to assemble an evidence report related to the regulatory burden, adding that if the report was convincing, he would use his broad authority to better streamline rules across all agencies.

“It’s a helpful step,” Joe Engelhard, a senior vice president of the investment advisory firm Capital Alpha Partners LLC, said, according to Bloomberg. He added that Dodd-Frank is “overly complicated and excessive in certain areas, but I like what Geithner is saying of identifying where it is overly complicated and we’ll work on that.”

The Dodd-Frank Act imposes close to 400 new rule requirements on regulators, which some opponents claim will weaken job creation and economic growth.

Wayne Abernathy, the executive vice president of the American Bankers Association and a former Treasury assistant secretary, also agreed with Geithner’s proposal.

“I don’t blame them at all with their response of ‘Show us the facts,’” Abernathy said, Bloomberg reports. “That’s a response we should embrace.”

Bankers are currently pressuring Geithner to take advantage of his position as chairman of the Financial Stability Oversight Council to promote enhanced regulatory coordination.